It’s over!The fat lady has done her part and has waddled off the stage,
and our legislators are packing up and heading home from Olympia.At this
point there is no talk of the need for a special session, unlike the
three special sessions we had last year..

The 2017-2018 biennium set a record for the number of gun related bills
filed: 48, 25 anti-, 20 pro- and three neutral.But as foretold in the
Book of Matthew, “Many are called but few are chosen.”Only four of the
48 managed to make it to the governor’s desk:None of the pro-gun bills
made the cut in the Democrat-dominated legislature, surprise,
surprise.HB 2519 and SBs 5553, 5992 and 6248 were the chosen few.SB
6620, the last minute “assault weapon” bill, failed to get a vote on the
last day of the session (given the time allowed, it was unlikely to pass
the House anyway).

On Tuesday, 7 March, Governor Inslee signed SB 5992, the “bump stock”
ban.In its final version, it only applied specifically to bump stocks
and not to other “trigger devices,” and allows for a one-year buy-back
period to be set up by the Washington State Patrol.Your reward for
complying with the law is $150.(As far as I can tell, nothing prevents
you from shipping or selling them out of state, as long as the
transaction occurs out-of-state).

HB 2519and SBs 5553 and 6298 sit on the governor’s desk awaiting his
action.He has three options: sign the bill(s) as is, section veto
portions he doesn’t like allowing the remainder to become law, or let it
sit without his signature, at which point it will become law.Unlike the
president, Washington has no provision for a “pocket veto” (no
signature) to kill a bill.I expect the governor to sign all three bills,
as he did SB 5992.

As I reported earlier, HB 2519 was amended in the House to allow issue
of CPLs to current and former military members aged 18-20.That amendment
was pulled by the Senate Law & Justice committee.The conference
committee also amended the final version of the bill added language that
allows the issuing authority to require a photograph be submitted with
the application, and that photograph to be embossed on the license.This
was discussed by the Department of Licensing more than ten years ago but
never implemented.It is solely up to the issuing authority to require
it.Some states have photo CPLs, other do not.

It appears in my rush to head for Las Vegas in January for the annual
Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trades show, I missed an anti-gun bill
filed.HB 2805 (Rep. Pollet, D-46) would ban the sale of exposed lead
projectile ammunition to those 18-20 years old.Concerns about lead
poisoning among the young, according to the bill language.Maybe Chicago
should consider such a bill.

Given the fact that for the first time in several years Democrats
control both the House and Senate as well as the governor’s mansion, why
so few anti-gun bills passed?One or two pro-gun Democrats in each
chamber helped us, and 2018 is mid-term election year.Had they passed a
slew of anti-gun bills, they likely would have lost perhaps several
rural-area legislative seats in November.Expect them to come back in
January, 2019 with blood in their eyes for gun owners.

By failing to address the “assault weapon” issue, it opens the door for
an initiative later this year that is likely to go well beyond simple
registration and/or age limits.And as we’ve been hearing from Florida
over the past week, where the Republican-majority legislature just
raised the age to buy long guns to 21 AND imposed a three-day waiting
period because of the Parkland school shooting, there are far too many
gun owners out there who don’t like “black rifles.”Or as we call them,
Elmer Fudds, “As long as they don’t come after my wabbit gun, I don’t
care what they do about other guns.”

OTHER DATA:Copies of pending legislation (bills), legislative schedules
and other information are available on the legislature’s web site at
“www.leg.wa.gov“.Bills are available in Acrobat (.pdf) format.You may
download a free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader from Adobe’s web site
(http://www.adobe.com).You may also obtain hard copy bills, initiatives,
etc, Copies of bills may also be ordered toll free by calling the
Legislative Hotline at (800) 562-6000.You may also hear floor and
committee hearing action live at http://www.tvw.org/ (you need
“RealAudio” to do this, available free at the TVW web site).

By reading the House and Senate “bill reports” (hbr, sbr) for each bill,
you can see how individual committee members voted.By reading the “roll
call” for each bill, you can see how the entire House or Senate voted on
any bill.The beauty of the web site is that ALL this information is
available, on line, to any citizen.

GET THE WORD OUT:If you want to subscribe to the GOAL Post by e-mail,
send a message to “goalwa@cox.net “. Please pass GOAL Post on to anyone
you believe may have an interest in protecting our rights.Better yet,
make a couple of copies of this message, post it on your gun club’s
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I can be reached at “joewaldron@cox.net” or by telephone at (425)
985-4867.Unfortunately, I am unable to mail hard copy GOAL Post to
individuals.Limited numbers of hard copies MAY be available at the
Second Amendment Foundation book table at WAC gun shows.

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Upcoming WAC gun show(s):

Puyallup 24-25 March

Puyallup 28-29 April

“The right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself,
or the state, shall not be impaired, but nothing in this section shall
be construed as authorizing individuals or corporations to organize,
maintain or employ an armed body of men.”